APT Main Event - VND 12,000,000,000 GTD Flight A (60 mins)

Gab Yong Kim

HANOI, Vietnam - Korea's Gab Yong Kim dominated the proceedings in Day 1A of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Summer Series Hanoi Main Event that carries a VND12,000,000,000 (~US$500,000) guarantee as 49 of the 143 (113 unique) entries made it through to Day 2 at the Grand Loyal Poker Club.

Kim finished with a whopping 416,300 in chips, more than a hundred thousand ahead of second-placer and fellow Korean Yingrui Ge with 308,600. Do Tien Vu of the host nation bagged the third largest stack, concluding play with 265,800.

Kim is seeking his first APT Main Event trophy and second APT title after taking a High Rollers event during the 2017 APT Manila. He is currently ranked second in South Korea's All-Time Money List.

Other notables who advanced include 2015 WSOP Bracelet winner Alex Lindop (237,000), APT Taipei Main Event fourth-placer Lam Kim Long (116,500) and the "AQ Fold Lady" Nguyen Thi Xao (60,000), who survived being crippled by Ge leading up to the final level.

Alex Lindop

Here are the top ten Flight A performers:

Flight B gets underway at 12pm (UCT+7) on Tuesday, May 30, with slightly shorter 45-minute levels, with Flights C & D playing out on Wednesday, May 31 at 12pm and 6pm respectively – both boasting 30-minute levels.

Day 2 plays out on Thursday, June 1 with all respective survivors uniting for the first time and playing down to the money.

Day 3 plays out on Friday, June 2 with the tournament playing down to the final table, with the fourth and final Day 4 crowning a the inaugural APT Summer Series Hanoi, Vietnam champion.

Join us tomorrow for Flight B as we see who has what it takes to lock up a Day 2 berth.

Flight A is in the books with all players now counting out their chips before bagging them in preparation for Day 2.

A full write up of the day's action will follow shortly.

Grand Gardner

Grant Gardner and Nguyen Thi Bao An saw a flop of 4♥ 5♥ Q♥ in one of the last hands of the flight.

An checked it over to Gardner, who fired a bet of 5,500. An didn't take too long to make the call and both players saw a turn card.

On the 9♣ turn, An would check again with Gardner sizing up to 16,500. An once again made the call and we saw a river with two players still in the hand.

The river 3♥ brought a fourth heart on board with An checking for a third time. Gardner was also on a hat-trick and completed it by firing a final bullet of 45,000. An considered for a while before letting her hand go, awarding the pot to Gardner.

Kanchan "Thandicoke" Sharma (IND)

There is no soft play in poker, even if the protagonists are from the same country and even share the same surname.

That was the case when decorated grinder Nishant Sharma (14th on India's All-Time Money List with over US$550,000 in career earnings and coming off two cashes in APT Taipei), raised from early position and when it was folded around to the Big Blind of renowned Indian lady pro Kanchan Sharma, she opted to protect.

The Flop was 4♠ 3♥ 2♦.

Kanchan checked and a continuation bet was placed by Nishant. Kanchan check-raised and Nishant called. The turn was the 8♣ and suddenly all the chips were in the middle for the two Indians.

Kanchan tabled 4♣ 4♦ while Nishant had 2♣ 2♠.

The lady known as "Thandicoke" doubled-up to almost 200,000 with that set over set victory.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, the tournament director has announced that six more hands will be played after which all remaining players will bag up their chips.

Gab Yong Kim

Gab Yong Kim has a mountain of chips in front of him and acquired them in the cruelest way possible.

Kim got his stack all in on the flop against Jhon Hendri, who was on his second bullet, with the board reading 6♥ J♠ K♣. Both players tabled their hands and it was Hendri who didn't like what he saw.

The Indonesian player revealed the A♠ A♥ but was way behind the K♥ K♠ of Kim. The runout wouldn't bring either of the two remaining aces for Hendri as the 3♦ 3♣ filled out the board and Hendri's stack was pushed toward Kim.

Kim now sitting with 380,000 chips and leads the field as we hit the halfway stage of level ten.

Brandon Boswell shoved his last 16,000 into the middle and was called by Alex Ward.

Boswell 5♣ 5♥ Ward K♣ J♦

The American was the player at risk and at first glance would have been disappointed to see the J♣ appear on the flop, but would soon realize he had flopped a set when the 5♠ and 9♠ followed. The runout of Q♠ 2♥ kept him in the lead and he earned a double-up late in Flight A.

After an Under-The-Gun raise from China's Wang Yimeng for 2,500, Jhon Hendri from Indonesia 3-bet to 8,500 from Middle Position. The action folded to Filipino David Erquiaga who 4-bet to 21,000--leaving only 50,000 behind.

Wang tanked then folded while Hendri made the call.

The Flop came: K♣ Q♠ T♠.

Hendri made a Donk Bet of 18,000 then Erquiaga went over the top for his remaining chips and was quickly called.

Erquiaga showed A♣ A♠ while Hendri turned over A♥ J♦.

The Turn and River did not do anything to save the Filipino who gets shown the door.

We have just entered level ten, which is the last level that will be played on Flight A.

From the 141 entries, 60 remain with all eyes set on survival and making it into Day 2.

Who will bring through the biggest stack?

Let's find out over the next hour.

Tan Luan Le four-bet shoved his remaining chips into Beabsu Kim who made the call to put Le at risk.

Le 8♥ 8♦ Kim J♠ J♣

Kim let out a sigh of relief when he saw Le's hand and he managed to hold onto the lead as the board ran out T♦ A♣ 6♠ 4♦ Q♣ and earn him the pot and send Le to the touchline.

The South Korean player's stack is up to around 80,000 after that hand.